Dancing as Therapy

Another great post from the CEO of Abby Bella Dance Studio.
Teresa's blog: Dancing Queen AZ

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“I hope if given the chance to sit it out or dance, you dance…”

Many dancers come to dance at the studio when they are going through a difficult time or life transition. I have watched amazing transformations in women of all ages. I originally opened the studio  for “Women of a Certain Age” but I was surprised to find many different groups of men and women attending classes. One group that I didn’t expect was the young women and men who had danced in their youth and didn’t want to dance in children’s studios and now had no place to dance. I see them especially in the late night and technique, especially hip hop, classes.

The studio often feels like a therapy session with women and men, students, teachers and staff talking, laughing and dancing. Most of the classes require mind-body coordination leaving little room in the brain for sadness or pain. Dancing is truly transforming.

I saw this transformation first-hand when I witnessed the Dancing Classrooms culminating event at Lodestar at the Human Services Campus for the homeless near downtown Phoenix where homeless individuals learned ballroom dancing. The program, designed for children in elementary school, was adapted for use in this homeless program with great success. The instructors said that they encounter frequent emotional responses from the participants as they grow and become more confident as they learn the five ballroom styles of dance. After twenty classes over a ten week period the participants dress in their (or donated) finest and put on a show. I was privileged to attend the performance with Pierre Dulaine, who founded Dancing Classrooms in New York City and was immediately hooked.

Ballroom Dancing Program for Homeless at Lodestar Day Resource Center




Lodestar Ballroom Dance
Our Ballroom dance program is a pilot program developed in conjunction with Dancing Classrooms based in New York.  The first program developed by Pierre DuLane focused on inner city children.  This dance program is the first of it’s kind in the U.S. and we have seen tremendous results in a short amount of time.  Partner dance develops commitment and follow through,  helps reduce depression and stress, allows for self-expression and creativity, helps people how to learn again, develops communication skills, increases vitality and confidence and allows people to experience joy.  More about Dancing Classrooms  -> http://dancingclassrooms.org/

Belly Dance as Therapy
How does belly dance help healing the mind? Women (of all ages, shapes and sizes) have found that belly dancing is a genuinely useful way of improving ones creativity, femininity and self-esteem. Belly dancing can also play a role in releasing ones emotional health and many belly dancers have found that belly dance acts as therapy for them in helping them to deal with:

-Breast cancer surgery
-Bulimia
-Rape and/or sexual abuse
& various other conditions

We see people in various stages of life, sometimes broken, lonely, sad, unemployed, or going through mid (or any stage) life crises looking for a way to feel better. Dance Therapy focuses on body movement to music and, for me, nothing makes me feel better than that.

“I hope if given the chance to sit it out or dance, you dance…”

Thank you again Teresa, always so inspiring to read your posts.

When you guys are going through a hard time, what helps you get through it? Have you tried dancing to help?